Archive for the ‘Eating Local’ Category

by Laura Llewellyn, Produce Manager

A lot of the work I do is focused on developing our local food system, which comes in a complex array of shapes and sizes. It’s not just about the farmers or our local producers of value-added products. It’s also about the schools, the restaurants, the farmer’s markets, all the grocery stores and various institutions. It’s about the gleaners and the food bank, the policy workers and the leaders of our community, the home gardeners and CSA members. It’s about each and every one of you. Naturally, eating is the one thing we all share in common.

Currently, I am The Food Co-op’s representative on the Jefferson County Local Food System Council (JCLFSC). Our mission: Working together to create, expand, and strengthen a local food system that is accessible, healthy, sustainable, and economically vibrant.
The JCLFSC was founded in 2015 and is comprised of about 20 volunteers who meet once a month. Each member represents a different sector of our food system. Much of the last three years has been spent on dialoging, networking and mapping. The result of this work is just starting to ripple out into the community.

The Food Council has two main committees in addition to the Executive Committee. The Policy Committee has spent considerable time drafting input to the Comprehensive Plan for both Port Townsend and Jefferson County. The Education and Outreach Committee is currently working with the Eat Local Campaign on two main fronts (more on this campaign to come). First is a farmer meetup on January 5 to plan how to increase local food use by restaurants.

The goal of this meeting is to strengthen relationships and thus purchasing power between farmers and chefs county-wide. Second is an initiative to start a number of Menu for the Future discussion courses. In the winter, groups will be meeting for six weeks all over the county to discuss food-related topics. Anyone can participate in this grassroots educational opportunity. For more information on the JCLFSC or if interested in signing up for a Menu for the Future group, email Judy Alexander at jclocalfoodsystemcouncil@gmail.com.

Through the workings of The Food Co-op and the Food Council, an Eat Local First campaign has been born. More accurately, the campaign is still in its inception stage. After three meetings, a group has surfaced that shares the common goal of turning up the dial on local food consumption. We are taking inspiration from the work Sustainable Connections is doing in Whatcom and Skagit Counties. The steering committee is working to identify our vision and mission, create structure for the campaign and find funding. If you are interested in learning more as the details unfold, joining our efforts or contributing any resources to the campaign, you can email me at laura@foodcoop.coop.

I have found that many of the conversations I have personally and professionally about eating local comes back to the topic of education. It might be information about certain products or vendors, actually getting people to taste the food, info about general nutrition, the economics of local businesses, or simply a story that paints a picture in one’s mind. Bottom line, our food system is comprised of the choices we make three or more times per day. These decisions are made for many reasons, ranging from budget, to diet, to access, or to what we simply crave. All I ask is, next time you have a choice to make, think about eating local. Every dollar spent in our community multiplies within our community. Since we are what we eat, it serves every one of us to learn more about where our food comes from.

What we did in 2017:

❀ Held a thank you dinner/workshop with local farmers

❀ Bought from 122 different local farmers and makers

❀ Purchased over $1.2 million in goods from local producers

❀Added the amount of local dollars you spent at the Co-op to your register receipt

Eating Local was the focus of our annual meeting this year, held on June 4 at Fort Worden.

We Ate Local

Kristan McCary, director of food services at the fort, really came through for us when we requested that the food be sourced locally. As we all know, in early June local produce can be a bit sparse, but the folks at Fort Worden went to the Saturday Farmers Market and picked up lots of lettuces and veggies to let people put together scrumptious salads, and then they rounded it off with local breads and cheeses. We heard lots of kudos for the food.

Sustainable Connections—Bellingham’s Program to Support Local

Our guest speaker was Sara Southerland, the Food and Farming Program Manager of Sustainable Connections up in Bellingham. Sara spoke about the extensive programs they have to help local producers, farmers, and businesses meet the “triple bottom line”—that is, they help local businesses work not just for profit, but also for people and the planet. We were particularly interested in hearing about their “Food and Farm” program, which includes an “Eat Local First” campaign. In Port Townsend, we do many similar things, but their efforts are both extensive and interconnected .

Sara told us that the Food and Farm program works to grow the market for local food and local farmers by creating connections. She joked that she feels like a matchmaker, connecting farmers and fisherman with restaurants and grocery stores through events like farmer-chef mixers and a Local Food Trade Meeting as well as by partnering farms with chefs, in a sort of “buddy” system. They also supported the formation of a NW Washington Chef’s collective, which has brought together people who are usually competitors, but who found they can learn from each other.

The Food and Farming program also has an educational aspect for business owners and farmers as well as for shoppers. They teach businesses how to differentiate themselves, and for novice farmers, they have a new farmer training program. Sara said that new farmers often start with a passion for agriculture, but they need help with business plans and how to make a profit. Another part of the program is called “Food to Bank,” which provides training and raises money to pay new farmers to provide food to food banks and shelters.

An educational campaign, Eat Local First, is the centerpiece of their efforts to educate shoppers. They began by surveying shoppers to see how people thought of local food as well as the barriers to buying more local products, and discovered two important barriers were a lack of sufficient labelling of local food (in restaurants, for instance) and what to do with local products once you bought them.

To launch the campaign, they asked businesses to take the “local food pledge” to increase by 10% the amount they spend on local food. They then asked their community to try to shift their purchases to local by just 10%, because that figure seemed attainable and not too much to ask. Their mantra became “just one out of ten items in your cart.” Business participants agree the campaign increased sales of local products, but an added benefit was businesses became more willing to work together and co-promote, even when they might seem to be in competition. The business atmosphere become more cooperative!

To promote local food, Sustainable Connections also produces a Food & Farm Finder map and organizes a farm tour as well as an Eat Local Month in September, when restaurants specially feature local food on their menus. They also have Harvest of the Month, when a specific local product is featured in the schools, restaurants, and grocery stores.

All in all, Sara gave us a lot to think about and discuss, and we followed up the next morning with a meeting to bring together people in the community interested in promoting local food to meet Sara and discuss the possibilities for our county. Lots more ideas were thrown into the mix, and we plan to follow up with meetings focused on how to connect and expand the Eat Local efforts in our community.

The Business End of the Annual Meeting

In addition to all this eating local, we distributed our annual report, which details how we are doing toward fulfilling the Food Co-op Ends, that is, our long-term goals. The annual report is available at the front desk at the store as well as online here. General Manager Kenna Eaton reviewed 2016, outlining our progress on our five-year strategic plan as well as reviewing our plans for remodeling our store. (For more information, check out the Store Expansion section of this website.)

Kenna also announced that, due to a profitable year, we were able to give some of that profit to our staff in the form a “gainshare” bonus and we will also have a member dividend distribution again this year. The amount distributed will be less than last year, because we will save some to help with our remodel. The distribution rollout will begin June 19 with notices being sent to our members. (Again, more information is available elsewhere on this website.)

Everyone needs to eat. Eating good food gives us pleasure and keeps us healthy. But how do we know what is good food?

Flavor is one measure. Fruits and vegetables grown for regional consumption are allowed to mature before harvest, so they taste better. In addition, studies show that foods produced organically can be nutritionally superior to those grown conventionally. Fruits and vegetables consumed shortly after harvest retain more nutrition that those stored for days or weeks before reaching grocery store shelves.

Just what do you know about the food you and your family eat? Do you know: Where it was grown? How it was grown? Who grew it? When it was harvested?

When you shop in supermarkets, are you able to find out where the food was grown? Can you learn about what pesticides or fertilizers were used? Are you able to find out who the people are that grow and produce your family’s food?

Locally grown food is fresher and tastes better. There’s nothing like biting into a juicy, garden-ripe tomato. However, most tomatoes sold in America aren’t especially juicy or flavorful. Bred for durability not flavor, they are picked while still green and often shipped thousands of miles. To make them appear ripe when offered for sale, they are treated with ethylene gas to help them turn red quickly. It’s impossible for fruit and vegetables that are picked, boxed, stored, and shipped long distances to taste as good as those just harvested on local farms.

Small family farms help protect the environment. In most cases, farm families live where they farm. They see themselves as stewards of the land and are more likely to use environmentally sound methods to manage pests and fertility. Large agribusiness concerns have limited ties to the land and communities where they operate. These large corporations invest in agriculture solely as a means to satisfy shareholder demands for profitability.

Buying local conserves precious resources. Buying your food direct from local farms helps conserve natural resources. American industrialized agriculture is the least efficient on the planet, often consuming up to ten times more energy for production and transport than it yields. Local food doesn’t have to travel far. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions and the need for costly packing materials. Buying local food also helps to make farming more profitable and selling farmland for development less attractive.

Thriving family farms build rural economies. Dollars generated in local communities change hands three or four times before they leave. When agribusiness corporations come to town, most dollars leave the community by close of the business day. In rural communities, economic well-being and social vitality are inextricably linked to the type of farms in the region. Family farmers buy from merchants in their own communities, helping support diverse local jobs and small businesses.

Buying local helps you learn how your food was grown. When you visit local farms, farmers markets, roadside stands, and food co-ops, you gain the opportunity to talk with the farmers growing your food. Farmers supplying nearby markets are more accountable to their buyers. Since consumers can learn who these farmers are and what practices they use, they have more confidence in the safety of the foods being grown.

Family farms help children learn healthy values. Like other family-owned businesses, family farms are models for children to learn values such as cooperation and responsibility. Many elementary schools arrange field trips to nearby family farms to help students learn about their food. They’ve discovered that introducing children to fresh, wholesome food helps improve children’s health and educational performance.

Local food protects genetic diversity. Diverse family farms around the world, growing for nearby markets, raise thousands of unique varieties and heritage breeds—varieties and breeds selected for their flavor and ability to thrive in unique environments. Agribusiness shippers demand today’s produce items have a tough skin that can survive harvest, packing, and transport as well as have a long shelf life in the store. Only a handful of developed varieties meet these global marketing requirements, so there is little genetic diversity among the key food plants and animals grown for mainstream markets.

Many family farms grow a feast for the senses. Nearby family farmers provide consumers with a broad variety of produce throughout the season. When you buy food from local farms, you have the opportunity to try foods that aren’t available in grocery stores. This is especially true when you buy directly through on-farm sales, farmers markets, or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. One Tilth Producers member grows and astonishing 82 different varieties of peppers to share with farmers market patrons on both sides of the Cascades.

Local farms help keep your taxes in check. Local farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services. According to several studies, for ever $1 in revenue raised by residential development, governments must spend $1.17 on services, thus requiring higher taxes of all taxpayers. However, for each $1 in revenue raised by farms, forest, and open space, governments only spend about 34 cents on services, a net gain to the government of about 66 cents on every dollar collected.

Diverse family farms means food security. Supporting local family farms helps protect our ability to feed ourselves. Without thousands of thriving farms around the region, we lose the land security needed to ensure each foodshed maintains the ability to feed itself. Food from far-off places is now the norm. International food trade has tripled since 1961, and corporate agribusiness profits have nearly doubled since 1990. However, we need to think about what happens if something disrupts that constant flow of food products across continents and oceans. We must act now to guarantee the survival of divers family farms. If we don’t the inevitable disruption of global agribusiness networks will become a serious hardship to our communities.

This seasonal food map lists foods available in and around our neighborhoods based on produce and other local foods sold at The Food Co-op as well as the Puget Sound Fresh Farm Guide. Cultivated fruits and vegetables and other farm products like eggs and fish are included here in the month-to-month seasonal food map. Be sure to check the menu at right for seasonal recipes.